The Lawyers Weekly - December 16, 2011

prostitution laws, which put the lives of prostitutes in danger by criminalizing communication for the purpose of obtaining a prostitute’s services but not prostitution itself.

Toronto lawyer Steve Surka agreed. He termed the decision “an example of the checks and balances which are a feature of a thriving democracy. Regardless of its opposition to the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, the government of Canada will abide by it.

“This landmark decision will
likely ripple through a variety of
future legal challenges, including
the ongoing challenges to the
laws relating to prostitution and
assisted suicide.”
If there is to be an early impact
anywhere, it’s Quebec, which has
indicated it will permit safe injec-
tion sites. Health Minister Yves
Bolduc says the decision removed
the last hurdle preventing Que-
bec from opening similar govern-
ment-supported sites, and the
province is accepting proposals
from would-be operators. Two
organizations have expressed
interest in opening such clinics.

At the time of its release, Paul Monahan of Fasken Martineau in Toronto, co-counsel before the court for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, termed the decision “a victory for the health and welfare of some of the most marginalized members of our society who often have no voice in our justice system.” He saw a high likelihood that Ottawa would have to grant exemptions for similar sites in other cities. “If one life can be saved and the health of those potential users of the proposed site can be benefited, the minister will very likely have to grant future exemptions.” n

‘undefined

In the nearly three months since the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously told Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to give the country’s first safe injection site for intravenous drug users a continued exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), little has happened beyond a suggestion that Quebec may get a similar site.

Some lawyers contacted by The Lawyers Weekly expressed confidence that the ruling will eventually lead to safe injection sites being established elsewhere in the country and they suggested that the spirit of the ruling could have farther-reaching application to, for example, challenges of Canada’s prostitution laws.

The Vancouver site, known as Insite, had the support of provincial, public health and municipal officials and had established strong evidence that it not only saved lives but, through counselling, had helped many addicts kick the habit. In the circumstances, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin found that a refusal by Ottawa to extend an exemption under CDSA to the facility would have adverse consequences “grossly disproportionate” to the law’s purpose of limiting possession and trafficking of controlled substances.

“Insite saves lives. Its benefits have been proven,” she wrote. “There has been no discernable negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada during its eight years of operation. The effect of denying the services of Insite to the population it serves is grossly disproportionate to any benefit that Canada might derive from presenting a uniform stance on the

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Mergers
Continued From Page 18

SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Dean Wilson reacts to the ruling in the lobby of the SCC on Sept. 30.

possession of narcotics.”
Although cities such as Toronto
and Montreal likely have as many
addicts as Vancouver, they may
not be in the concentrations found
in Vancouver’s Downtown East-
side, a small area that the chief
justice noted houses 4,600 intra-
venous drug users, “which is
almost half of the intravenous
drug users in the city as a whole.”
As well, the site had the benefit
of having been in operation since
2003, when local, provincial and
federal authorities agreed to create
a legal framework for a facility in
which clients could inject drugs
under medical supervision without
fear of arrest and prosecution.

In 2008, when the litigation
was launched by PHS Commun-
ity Services Society, operators of
Insite, the site had been in oper-
ation long enough to provide
good evidence of its public health
benefits. Research there and else-
where has shown that offering a
safe place for addicts to inject
drugs can cut the spread of infec-
tious disease, including HIV and
hepatitis B and C, as well as
reduce substance abuse and
death from overdoses.

Crime bill set to pass, despite protests

Crime
Continued From Page 18

have issued approximately
$18-billion in judgments against
foreign countries. Less than one
per cent has been collected. It
appears that terrorists are smart
about keeping their money out of
places where it can be seized.”
The bill also raises a financial
issue for Canada’s provinces
and territories. “Some of the
provinces are saying: ‘We don’t
want to pay for this.’ We could
have a constitutional crisis on
our hands,” said Adam Good-
man, a criminal defence lawyer
in Toronto.

“It’s federal legislation,” he said,
“but the provinces have the
responsibility to prosecute
offences and are responsible for
incarceration up to two years.”
Ontario and Quebec have
expressed dissatisfaction with
the new legislation, and New-
foundland and Labrador has
raised concerns. On the other
hand, New Brunswick, Mani-
toba, Alberta and British Colum-
bia have endorsed it. Nova Sco-
tia is sitting on the fence. Asked
how the province stood on the
issue, Premier Darrell Dexter
said: “It’s our position that if
they’re going to create increased
costs in the province, they should
bear the cost through the trans-
fer program.”
Nova Scotia Justice Minister
Ross Landry, however, expressed
confidence that Ottawa will “hon-
our their responsibilities and
contribute appropriately.”
That is not the message the
federal government is sending. In
response to questions about
Ontario and Quebec’s refusal to
pay costs emanating from the
new crime bill, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper said in a tele-
vision interview: “There’s consti-
tutional responsibilities of all
governments to enforce laws and
protect people. I think the people
of Ontario and Quebec expect
that their government will work
with the federal government to
make sure we have safe streets
and safe communities.”
Lawyers across the country
will also need to pay attention to
the new legislation, expected to
pass early next year, from a prac-
tical perspective.

“The implications for lawyers and their clients are that clients will have less incentive to resolve matters,” Schreck said. “The majority of charges result in a guilty plea after negotiation between the Crown and defence counsel as to the appropriate penalty. Accused persons have an incentive to take part in this process as it usually results in a lesser sentence than would be imposed were the accused convicted after trial. If there is a minimum sentence, the Crown has little to bargain with and the accused has less incentive to resolve the matter. The likely result is fewer guilty pleas and more trials, resulting in more court delay and an overall increase in the overall cost of administering justice.” n

be a full-service firm in any of our 27 offices around the world,” he said.

Although enormous synergies exist from being tapped into a larger network, he still refers out a lot of work where there is no internal specialized expertise. But in the three months since the merger he has already seen resource-driven work flow between Canada and Dubai.

While the big firms duke it on the world stage, smaller firms have been no less active to find ways to remain competitive.

Jack Newton, who heads Clio,
a Vancouver-based developer of
client management cloud soft-
ware primarily used by boutiques,
claims his customers are more
competitive. His service has seen
triple-digit year-over-year growth.
“By leveraging the economics of
the cloud, we’re able to help solos
and small firms compete on an
equal, if not superior, techno-
logical footing as their large firm
peers. The cloud makes collabor-
ating with clients more effective
and more efficient, and affords
‘anytime, anywhere’ access to
data, including on iPads, iPhones,
and other mobile platforms.”
An example of a small start-up
success would be Jamie Fox, who
several years ago founded
D’Angela Fox Vanounou LLP, a
personal injury boutique in
Toronto. “Being small and highly
focused allows us to rapidly adapt
to the changing legal landscape
while still serving our clients’
needs and avoiding the inherent
conflicts of interest which arise in
a full service firm,” Fox said. “Our
relatively modest overhead costs
allow us to price our services
competitively within the market-
place leading to an exponential
business growth in 2011.”
So what about the firms that
are neither positioned as inter-
national behemoths or cost-
effective boutiques? “The danger-
ous place will be the undefined
middle, the firms that are in
between big and small and not
sure of their message to the
marketplace,” Furlong said. n

Omar Ha-Redeye is a Toronto-based lawyer and principal of Fleet Street Law, a law chambers founded in 2011 with aspirations of expanding internationally.